Australian manufacturing maintains its momentum to kick off 2018

23rd February 2018

Few industries in the world have come close to the success that Australian manufacturing has had over the last year.

The sector recently hit its 16th straight month of improvement, the longest stretch it has had since 2005, Business Insider reported. With all the prosperity comes a tall task for organisations, though: Staving off competitors and supporting greater capacity for work. With business management software, that's easier than ever.

A look at the numbers

The Ai Group's Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) tracks the sector's growth rate. Any score over 50 shows improvement, and the distance that figure is away from 50 suggests the speed with which it's happening at. In the first month of 2018 the PMI rose 2.5 points, signifying that it's not only expanding but doing so quickly as well, according to Business Insider.

Australian manufacturing has seen an uptick to start the year.

Industry analysts remain bullish on the industry, yet organisations face a balancing act moving forward, Australian Manufacturing News reported. One of the big drivers in competition remains pricing due to the rising energy costs and greater focus on technological research and development. Companies will need to find alternative methods of reducing operational costs in a bid to undercut rivals and gain a greater market share.

Business management software to the rescue

One way many organisations don't realise they lose money is simply on errors and lengthy processes and procedures. Inventory management and bookkeeping are just two areas that are revolutionising thanks to intuitive platforms that help to automate them.

Digital transformation is needed to succeed in manufacturing.

A general ledger, for instance, comes with a budget wizard program that gathers the pertinent data from all corners of the system to create an Excel spreadsheet without the accounting department having to do all the work. This becomes invaluable at the end of each fiscal quarter and when large shipments are due in or out.

Similarly, a paper-based system of inventory management can lead to missing orders and overlooked stock. By automating it, administration receives real-time visibility into their warehouse and can quickly generate reports that the organisation can rely on without fail.

The technology is available for the manufacturing industry to improve profit margins, and 2018 will be the year many businesses take advantage of it: Will yours? Contact an Advanced Business Manager representative today to learn more.